CHENNAI ( Web Desk ) – In a shocking revelation, Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has said 30% of all lawyers in India are fake, holding fraudulent law degrees, Times of India reported.

Speaking at Lawyers Meet-2015, organised by BCI in Chennai the other day, Mishra said the council, which is statutorily empowered to discipline errant lawyers and take action against them, was in the process of weeding them out.

In BCI’s estimation, about 20% of lawyers were practising in courts without valid law degrees, he said, adding that a law minister of Delhi himself had a fake law degree.

Fake lawyers and non-practising law graduates are degrading quality of the profession, Mishra said. “We will filter bad and non-practising lawyers and remove them from the rolls,” he said. Mishra blamed such lawyers for strikes and boycotts being witnessed in various courts for petty and frivolous issues.

The two-time BCI chairman expressed concern that thousands of fake law certificates are being issued and thousands of lawyers, without proper degree, are practicing in courts and tribunals.

He said the council has embarked upon the first ever certificate verification exercise, and every enrolled member’s credentials and documents submitted were being verified.

“Our verification rules are being implemented in all states, except Karnataka and Kerala, where it is held up because the high courts have passed interim orders,” Mishra said.